Leaga leaders Barcelona fought back from 3-1 to beat Celta Vigo 4-3 in a roller coaster competition to move seven points clearly at the top of the table.
The hat trick of Borja Iglesias seemed to have put the visitors under control, but the replacements of Hansi Flick made the difference before the Raphinha stopping time proved the difference.
Barcelona took the lead when Ferran Torres took the ball in midfield and found space to dribble to the goal, pulling the tractor from the edge of the box to beat Vicente Guaita for his 10th competition goal of the season.
But Celta responded immediately when Pablo Duran started a fantastic cross of the wing. Wojciech Szczesny missed the ball after jumping his line and left Iglesias with a tap-in in an empty net.
Barcelona then went behind seven minutes in the second half, when Frenkie de Jong made a mistake and missed a long ball, which allowed Iglesias to run and beat Szczesny to take his second goal.
While the hosts pushed forward to find an Equalizer, a Celta Standering Iglesias found again, and he took advantage of the High Line of the home team to sprint and beat Szczesny for the third time to claim his hat trick.
A stunned Barcelona responded two minutes later and got one back in the 64th minute when Robert Lewandowski, who was injured shortly thereafter, combined Raphinha to find Dani Olmo, who scored five minutes after he started as a replacement.
Four minutes later, Barcelona brought it to 3-3 when Lamine Yamal, another replacement, crossed the ball to the six-year box where Raphinha rose above the defense to go home.
Celta seemed to go on to leave with a point, but Olmo was polluted in the box and earned a stop-time penalty after a VAR check, where Raphinha stuck the ball in the top corner in the 98th minute in the 98th minute to win the victory.
The result puts the pressure back on Real Madrid, who plays the fourth placed athletic Bilbao on Sunday. Celta Vigo is seventh with 43 points.
Full time !!!! What a comeback! What a comeback! What a comeback! What a comeback!#Barçacelta pic.twitter.com/ptcxhbhrcl
– FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona) April 19, 2025
Data Debrief: Barca Avoid Title-Race Slip-up
This season Barcelona had a 2-0 lead against Celta slipped in the reverse match, and it seemed that they may be set to repeat that performance when they go in a half-time level.
And although it was Flick's substitutes who apparently came to the tide, it was Raphinha who stole the headlines with his 30th goal of the season.
Since the beginning of 2024, only Mohamed Salah has offered more assists (29) among players in the top five European competitions in all competitions than Raphinha (26).
It was a crushing loss for Celta, who had just taken a shock just beyond the hour. Iglesias is the second road player to score a hat trick against Barcelona in Laliga in the 21st century after Diego Forlan in May 2005.